


Of Baratheons and Flames

by bela013



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-23
Updated: 2013-04-23
Packaged: 2017-12-09 08:02:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/771914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bela013/pseuds/bela013
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melisandre finds herself a new bastard after Davos smuggles Edric away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Baratheons and Flames

**Author's Note:**

> For the 'accidental baby acquisition' that I've prompted myself.

Davos ran down the path to the private port of Storm's End, fully intending on getting there before something drastic was done. The red woman was a crafty one, and after not getting her hands on the Edric boy, she managed to find herself a new _offering_.

When he heard about this, of how they were bringing a babe that was saved from the slaughter of King's Landing, a babe who had been lucky once, right into the waiting arms of the red monster, it was enough to make his stomach churn.

As he entered the port, his nightmare became true. There she stood, red hair blowing with the salted air of the sea, like a flag being raised in victory. A blue bundle was placed in her stretched out arms, only to start moving, getting its dark haired head free from the cloth.

Picking up his pace, Davos reaches her, not thinking and acting on instinct. He only has the chance to grab onto her wrist and make a move for the child before her foot stomp down on his. In surprise and pain, Davos lets go of her, and now, with both arms, Melisandre embraces the babe, turning her body as if trying to shield it away from him.

"What do you think you're doing, Ser Davos?" the indignation in her voice felt a slap to his face. How dare she speak to him that way, when she is the villain in the this, when she's the one who plots for that child's death.

"I'm trying to save that child, that's what I am doing!" and she had the gal laugh at his answer. It would take so little to reach for his sword and slice that smile off her face. But there were her knights around her, watching and waiting, not to mention the babe that she help, probably for her safety, not his.

"Like you did for the Edric boy?" the effect of her words and the teasing smile that graced her lips was broken by the small head that rested on her shoulder. The way the child snuggled on the red woman would be comical if not for the danger that it represented.

"And like I'll do for this one" not once did her smile slip, all she did was walk around me, back into the keep. The babe now looked over her shoulder, smiling at me, waving as she drifted of my vision.

Snapping out of whatever stupor she left him in, Davos follows her red self for from a few paces back. It was next to impossible to loose sight of her. Not only did her red head of hair served as mark to follow, but the sound of babbling that only babes were known to make, helped in guiding him.

Melisandre paced, calm and poised, parting the way as she walked on the corridors, wherever she went people made way for her. So all she did was turn her head for the child in her arms from time to time, he could not see her face, but he could see all the smiles the babe offered her.

Following her right into the chambers that belonged to her, he even had the door left open by her, she invited him with her actions, and even if that screamed of a plot, his need to protect an innocent from her made itself louder.

"So nice of you to join us, Davos" she didn't even turn to look at him, she was too distracted for that, "Don't you agree, my sweet?" placing kissed all over the pink cheeks of the babe, she could almost pass a normal woman.

"Do you plan on burning him now, or at night fall, witch?" her casual ways angered him, it all looked like a game to her.

"Oh no, Davos, you seam to have grasped only the wrong answers this time" sitting on what seamed to be a favourite chair, by the way it was placed the closest to the fire, Melisandre offers the chair opposite to her, the one with the back towards the open window. "First of, this is a girl, and her name is Bara, if you are really interested. And she is not her for burning, but for caring"

Relieved that the offered chair was well away from her and her fires, Davos sits on it, suddenly very tired of the games that the red witch played as if they were a second nature to her, all as easy as breathing.

"And as my second point, you couldn't save this one, even if it was a necessity" Bara seamed to be fascinated with Melisandre, cooing at her, playing with the long red hair she could grasp while sitting on the witch's lap. It was like watching child and mother interact. "You may have fooled me once, Davos. But it would take more cunning and slyness than you could ever posses to fool me a second time." for once, her eyes were not hot like the fires she prayed to, they were cold and sharp, like the blade of a sword, a sword that had its blade stained with blood.

"So why would you want that child, if she can not be used as an offering?"

"I've said it already, Davos, but you were too busy thinking of the ways I would disppose of her to pay attention to what I was saying." what he could see of the girl and Melisandre made him think of things he rather let buried in his mind. But the babe only forced him to remember the shadow that was birthed, and of the man it belonged. "Bara if for caring. I wanted a baby, one of royal blood. Sadly, she is not what I need, but now that I have her, she is mine for caring." Bara was the living for of the monster she birthed.

"Not what you need?" A mother of shadows taking care of a babe of flesh and blood. Was she capable of that?

"She's a girl. And the Lord of Light does not approve of the burning of women. Women are mothers, and even if their soul is one of the most sinful ones, we, priests and priestess of R'hllor, are not to condemn the life that might come of them."

"You're telling me that this is the only reason why you won't burn this girl?"

"No. I'm telling you the only reason why I haven't tried to burn the little princess before you could even think of protecting her from me, now that you have vanished the one that could take her place. If burning her was an option, that is."

Like a knife, Melisandre drove her words into his chest. He didn't know of her rules and costumes, and his actions could have condemned the princess. Stannis would never forgive the witch for burning his daughter, but that would have been already too late, and no punishment in the world would be able to bring her back to life.

"You should think very carefully from now on, Davos. Think before you ever go against me, for you do not know what I'm truly capable of" the fire in her eyes were back, and they burned me with her gaze. "Leave us, Davos. Bara needs her rest. It has been a long trip for her, and we have no time for you"

His body rose, and his feet dragged his body out off her chambers. He did not knew how, he couldn't have done it. Collapsing right after her door closed behind him, Davos broke down and thanked whichever star that protected the Baratheon women, the ladies and bastards alike.

By the sounds of singing, words and melodies that were strange to his ears, Davos picked himself up. He had a king to serve and protect, and he didn't knew how long it would take for Melisandre to become desperate enough to realize how the king fit right in for the role of sacrifice.

And Davos knew well enough how bright the star that protect the Baratheon men was. Or wasn't, depending on your point of view.


End file.
